This article won't please everybody... especially this english version. I promise I will play it fair and will tell as much nastiness on the French a little later...
Americans around me often asked me why us french people hate them so much. Some of my american friends already kind of know, and generally they're also pretty critical about some aspects of their own model of society. (Which is not that rare, depending on the milieu.) I think most French people are not really anti-american, but they have a lot of received ideas about them. The same way than, for more or less justified reasons, some Americans can't stand French people. Well, quickly, here are the reasons we often find to explain why the French hold something against the Americans:
- Americans are brutes
The death penalty, the right to bear arms, the power of the NRA lobbying make us see Americans as cow-boys devoting themselves to barbaric practices.
- Americans lack culture
In America's wonderland, the culture level is clearly low. The education level is deplorable. Several surveys showed the disaster. According to an ABC reportage, "Stupid in America", fifteen years old american pupils were ranked only 25th out of 40 nationalities. When it comes to geography, many are incapable of locating countries on a world map. As for history curriculum, they are limited to their own country history. In France, who would possibly think of going to Disneyland for their honeymoon?! Here... it's common practice. Let's add to that the absence of gastronomy, the omnipresence of cars, obesity problems on one side, and the excessive love for sport on the other side, and we have gathered about all the subjects that feed the french anti-americanism.
- Americans are puritans
No sex before marriage, no alcohol before 21, the strengh of pro-life movements against abortion are all austere morals in comparison to the liberalization of french customs or any developed country's customs! I shouldn't give the example of Louisiana, because I'm very well aware that it's a special case: a southern State, extremely conservatist, where the scars of segregation can still be seen. Whatever it be, here, the law still authorizes public schools to teach creationism... Luckily we are the only one, with Tennesse, and luckily it doesn't mean all schools are teaching it, but it's freaky nonetheless. Obscurantism among american christians is baffling. French people are mostly exasperated by the whole hypocrisy of the american society: over-conservatism on one side and debauchery on the other .... Think about the notorious Spring Break, about the way young americans are pictured drinking, about american girls provocating outfits, about how fond they are of esthetic surgery, etc...
- Americans think they are the center of the world
I've read that since the end of WW1, it's like France never put up with the fact that the USA became first world power. America was seen as too politically immature and naive to become part of the powerful and victorious countries. Then, the american war in Irak, or their refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, only intensified the overall french anti-americanism.
- Americans are materialistics
All Americans are capitalists and only swear by their model of society: a consumption society. Here, people look at you funny if you dare saying that capitalism is also a bad thing. French people tend to reject globalization because they assimilate it to an americanization and standardization of the world. France has a catholic culture (even though most French are not religious anymore), and catholicism condemns accumulation of wealth. In France it's never good to show off your money. Average french people look unfavourably on rich people. Anglo-Saxons have a protestant culture, and protestantism has a totally different approach of money and profit. Americans are proud to show off their success, their big house, their big cars, their bling, etc... It's shocking to a french person, but totally normal to them. Americans admire that. It becomes pretty easy to understand how we both became spiritual enemies.
In the end, it doesn't matter if those cliches are spread rightly or wrongly. It's not the issue. Criticizing a culture with the point of view and reference frame of another culture isn't helpful at all. There's no cultural norm that's the right one, standards are different in each system, and every one has its own logic. The issue though, is that because we all think that our culture is legitimate, we all think it is worth something everywhere else. It can hurt to admit that the others don't work like us. And it takes years to be able to detach oneself from its own culture to truly understand another one.
Also, let's remember that all Americans are not Texan country bumpkins, that the country is far too big to draw one specimen profile, and that if there's a lot of stupid people, there's also a lot of brilliant ones.
To learn more: "Paradoxe américain: idées reçues sur les Etats-Unis" - Jacques Portes, north american history professor at Paris 8 university
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